Chinese leader bolsters Russian ties on first foreign trip

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Yahoo News:

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Chinese leader Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of relations with Russia as a counterweight to U.S. influence by visiting Moscow on his first foreign trip as president, and secured more oil to fuel China's growing economy.

Although relations between Moscow and Beijing have rarely been smooth, they have improved in the past decade and Xi highlighted this by signing energy, trade and political deals on Friday to strengthen ties between them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has long sought to blunt U.S. influence overseas, while China is grappling with the expanded military and economic interest the United States has displayed in Asia since 2011.

Xi became the first foreign guest to be met in the Kremlin by an honorary cavalry escort created by Putin in 2002, officials said, and looked at ease with the Russian leader in its glittering halls despite the formality of the occasion.

Putin, 60, greeted Xi with a firm handshake and a grin then ushered him down a red carpet past a long line of officials and into the Kremlin's gilded Green Room.

The meeting was carefully scripted and any disharmony was glossed over. But Putin looked more comfortable with Xi than with the French and German leaders, Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel, who raised human rights concerns during recent visits.

"I get the impression that you and I always treat each other with an open soul, our characters are alike. We always speak in a good manner, you and I are good friends," Xi, 59, told Putin as they began their talks, sitting in gold-trimmed chairs.

His remark recalled former U.S. President George Bush's declaration on meeting Putin in 2001 that he had looked him in the eye and "was able to get a sense of his soul".

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Soul brothers...